Means for locking nuts, bolts, studs, &amp;c.



No. 782,349; PATENTED FEB. 14, 1905.

n. MARSHALL.

MEANS FOR LOCKING NUTS, BOLTS, STUDS, 6w.

APPLICATION FILED 11011.27. 190a.

' s anus-sum 1.

. PATENTED FEB. 14, 1905. D. MARSHALL. I

Y No. 782,349.

BOLTS, STUDS, aw. v. 2d. 1903.

MEANS FOR LOCKING NUTS,

APPLICATION FILED no 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No. 782,349. PATBNTBD'FEB. 14, 1905.

1 D. MARSHALL.

MEANS FOR LOOKING NUTS, BOLTS STUDS, &0.- APPLICATION FILED NOV. 27. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- UNITED STATES Patented February 14, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

DALE MARSHALL, OF CHELTENHAM, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO JOHN FRANCIS CARR, OF EXETER, ENGLAND] MEANS FOR LOOKING NUTS, BOLTS, sTuDs, &c.-

sPEoImcATmN forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,349, dated. February 14,1905.

Application filed November 27, 1903. Serial No. 182.817-

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DALE MARSHALL, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland,

35 ing and then removal by hand, if so desired,.

process of screwing up a nut.

residing at30 Winchcombe street,Cheltenham county of Gloucester, England, have invented "certain new and useful Improvements in and Connected with. Means for Looking .Nuts,

Bolts, Studs, and the Like, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to improved means .for locking nuts, collars or couplings, bolts,

studs, shafts, and the like and also for fixing those members themselvesin' a similar manner and to obtain an elastic grip or thrust on or against any bodies it may be desired toseto operate any existing nuts orlocking-nuts' and are yet. capable of being screwed on any thread and up to any surface, (freely by hand only, if so desired.) The locking properties being fractional and possessing the limit of grip do not injure the thread and are sufliciently reliable to be unaffected by vibrations or atmospherical variations or oxidations, and, further, are capablepf immediate unlockand require neither special knowledge nor tools to operaterthem other than the usual They have no indentations or crushed-threads, neither are their outer walls split, and are toall appear-' ances the same as-ordinary nuts, and as a commercial-article in one piece they will retain their efliciency and locking properties for an. unlimited time irrespective of the number of times they are screwed on and off. For surface works-uch as fixing fish-plates orcyhnder-covers and the likethey possess a powerful elastic eflort against the work "1 and are superior to spring-washers.

By the term shafts 'I mean and include any such article adapted to or requiring to be fixed similarly-for instance, hammer-shafts, spokes of wheels, legs of chairs and tables, broom-handles,-shafting, (solid or holl.ow,) the latter including tubes made of metal or' soft material, such as rubber and the like. This locking of the various bodies, as'above set forth, I effect by the use of a spiral coil of suitable material and of special shape and section, as hereinafter set forth.

In order that my invention may be readily understood, reference is to be had to the following deseription and accompanying sheets of drawings, in.which- Figure 1 is a view of the spiral coil extended in order to show the, inner and outer faces thereof and extending as they do spirally so as to form a worm inside and outside throughsection being reversedviz., round faces.

against stud; and Fig. 6 illustrates 'the appli- Fig. 4 shows the lock taking the form of.

cationthereof to serve as -'a 'union forf hose or pipe couplings. Fig. 7 illustrates'the app cation thereof to couplingsl1afts(rotatab e) together. Fig. 8 shows the spir'al'coil adapted to serve as a spoke, shaft-,or the like holder.

Fig. 9 is a detail hereinafter referred to. Like letters of -reference'indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

hole by boring or any o'therconven'ient method, so that the same may just clear the threaded,

portion of any bolt or stud 'on which it is intended to use it. I then 'tapthe said hole with a special'tap having the same number of threads to the inch as the bolt or stud on which it is intended to be used, said tapping lengths wise being for the most part of 'a uniform size or bore, the remainder being tapered ofl, soas to leaveaportion of the bore or hole smaller, 5 or, ifdesired, this tapered portion may remain unthreaded. The thread of the nut I form of a somewhat-different shape to the usual form of the threads on the bolts and studs, inasmuch as it is shallower and rounded at its base, for

to reasons hereinafter described. 1 now make a spiral coil A, Fig. 1, of steel or other material and with an ovoidal cross-section, as shown in Fig. 2viz. rounded outer face 6 and inclined inner facesa a, forming a knife or V edge a 5 with slightly-roundedapex,'and thewalls being so formed as to be a continuous and tilted worm throughout its entire length to fill in the space between the nut C and the-bolt ors stud B, Fig. 3, so that when occupying said '2 space between the nut and the bolt or stud its inner a a and outer. surfaces 6 will fit into the interstices between the threads ofboth nut and bolt or stud, save and excepting suflicient play in the V threads to permit of coil tilting,

as hereinafter described. This form of coil enables it to be not only screwed onto the bolt or stud B, but also to permit of the nut. ,0 being screwed onto it'and in its turn. This, form of lock possesses elasticity consequent 3 on the tilting of coils, as aforesaid, while in compression, and on its recoil caused by the tilting of coils in the reverse or releasing, and is capable of adapting itself to threads of varying degrees of tightness.

In operation the spiral-wire coil 'Ais screwed into the nut C and extends throughout the uni-- form-sized portion of ?thread or boreviz.,

. from c to e Fig. 3. The nut C and coil as a a whole is now run on the bolt or stud B as 4 an ordinarynut, but on meeting with an ob; structionsay, for instance: the face of the fish-plate E, Fig. 4, or'a tight or damaged portion of thread of the boltLor studthe nut proper, .C, will commence overrun'ning the wire coil A, thereby increasing its hold on the'thread of .the bolt or stud by reason. of the coil A being forced into the tapered or smaller bore portion G to C of the nut.

I This overrunning of the coil by the but may 5 bebrought about by the mere sympathetic conditions (so to sp'eaklof a locking arrangement of such a construction herein described,

. because the shallow and rounded threads I) offer less resistance to axial movement than.

the deep V 6? onthe bolt or stud. Further, the latter variety of thread is affected toa 7 greater extent by-the wedging or "jamming action consequent on the tilting of the coil A when the nut C is engaged in compression 0' against any surfaces, (see Fig. 4,) the tilting of the coils thus imparting an elastic effort capable of recoil from end to end or lengthwise of the'b'qlt or stud on which it is operat-- ing. A smallamount of recoil axially is, more- 5 over, obtained on therelease of the lock. The

.release is obtained by a similar overrunning of the nut on the coil in the reverse direction. The lock can be more permanently maintained, if so desired, by preventing the reverse axial movement of the nut on the coil by increasing the length of the coil in a reduced size, so as to extend right through and beyond the tight or taper end of nut C, as at A, Fig. 4, (see dotted lines,) to enable it to be turned up against the back end. of the. nut. The coil may be advanced toward and into the tight or taper end'of the nut previous to placing the nut on the bolt or stud, so that it may be tight on entering the thread of thenut without the necessity of depending on the axial moyement after or while being screwed on. I 'I may in some cases prevent the coil running out of the nut on being unscrewed by indenting, as at C, Fig. 9,,the upper or under edge or similarly treating the threads internally or externally for temporary or permanent purposes. For convenience when running the nut on. or removing the .same from -a bolt, stud, or the like 1 may'use a tool consisting of another nut with a coil of a reduced section inserted therein, said coil projecting sufliciently far to enableit to be run into the'tight or taper end of thread of the nut, to be locked until it engages with the'coil therein, thus, temporarily arresting any axial movement of the coil whil screwing the nut to the required positionor similarly used to release it. I may in like manner adapt my locking device to the fixing of studs, pipes, or shaft-couplings should they be screwed or one or both of their surfaces be smooth by varying the size, section, or shape or by'hardening the coil, and, if desired, 1 may in some cases use a coil or liner of sheet metal suitably indented by pressing or rolling-or by turning the collar or coil from a bar. I

When applying my invention to the fixing of studs-say. for instance, in cylinders (see Fig. 5)I form my spiral coil slightly taper, as shown, with the inclined faces a aoutward and therounded face 6 inward and taper the stud B. which.is threaded to correspond to the coil, from 0 to e -that is to say, smaller at the top than bottom. The body or cylinder G (the nut in the foregoing description) having been drilled and threaded to suit thecoil A, the coil is then screwed onto the stud and together screwed into anddown to the bot- I tom of hole, and upon any attempt at unscrewing. stud the coil remains'stationary, naturally I .So from reasons previously described, (or may be more permanently forced to do by indenting theedge of body, as previously described and shown, .C, Fig. 9,) causing the stud to overrun the same and jam itself and the coil .by reason of the taper of stud and coilafore-- mentioned, thereby securely holding the stud in position. g

I In Fig; I have shown in one form how my how my lock may be applied to coupling the shafts (rotatable) H H or shafts,(hollow,) such as metal piping, together. In this case Iinterpose between the said shafts and the coil A a I split sleeve. K, so that when the coil A is com- I pressed by the cap C (nut) the sleeve is caused I to close up, tightly gripping the shafts. Al-

though I have shown two such locking devices, yet I may use only one by increasing the length of coil and cap and placing same right over the butt-joint. Further, I may apply my said invention tothe holding of shafts and the like. By this I mean such articles as hammer-shafts,spokes of wheels, legs of chairs or tables made of soft materials, such as rub- 2 5 ber or wood. Such an application is shown in Fig. 8. In this case a spoke (in the present instance) is held fast by screwing it down, inside the coil A, which coil A has, been primarily screwed into the boss or hub (nut) C go of the wheel andsshaped as in Fig. 3, thereby forcing the same into the wood forming the'boss of hub (nut'C) of thewheel, as'aforesaid, and at the same'time forming a thread on the spoke end itself, as shown, (when wood-is used, tapping or threading by means' of screwing-tools being unnecessary.) M represents any well-known adjustable means for connecting the outer spoke end with the felly or rim L of the wheel. 4o- Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, 'and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I i 1. In a locking device of the class described, thecombination with separate threaded elements to be coupled arranged one within the other with their opposing portions out of contact and one. of which elements is of atapering form, of a resilient spirally-coiled locking -Ibody provided with individual coils hav- 5 r ing a screw engagement with the 'said separate elements and extending across the inter val between the opposing threaded portions, said coilsbeing arranged to be overrun screw- 7 wise by one of the elements to provide a fric- 5 5. tional lock'between the two.

- 2. In a locking device of the class described,

the combination with the separate elements to be coupled arranged in separated relation with their opposing portions out of contact, of a 9 resilient spirally-coiled body provided with A I of the bodies to be connected.

individual coils formed with flattened faces and having a screw engagement with the elements to be coupled, saidcoils being tiltable under compression.

- 3. In a locking device of the class described,

the combination with the separate threaded elements to be coupled arranged in separated relation with their opposing portions out of contact, of aspirally-coiled bodyextending across the interval between said sections and having individual flattened coils tiltable endwise of the body when under compression to provide a. frictional lock between the elements to be coupled.

4. In a locking device of the class described,

the combination with the separate threaded elements to be coupled arranged in separated relation with. their opposing portions out of contact, of a resilient spirally-coiled body extending across the interval between said elements and having its individual coils formed with wide rounded portions at-oneedge and vpointed portions at the opposite edge, said individual coils also having flattened faces'converging to the pointed edges and having a frictional locking engagement with the threads of one of said elements. I v

5. In a threaded connection, the combination with the separate elements to be coupled arranged in separated relation with the threaded portions out of contact, of a locking device comprising a coiled body extending across the interval between said two elements and-haw ing individual coils formed with flattenedconvergent faces, the individualcoils of the lock-' ing device being tiltableunder endwise compression.

6. In a locking device of the class described,

the combination with two threaded bodies to I .be coupled arranged one withinthe other and oneof which is .of a-tapered form, one ofsaid' II bodies being provided with deep threads and the other of said bodies having an opposing portion with shallow threads, of a resilient spirally-coiled locking-body having its coils Ids.

formed with pointed portions to engage the deep threads of one body, and with roun ed surfaces to engage theshallow threads'of he] j other body, said matching rounded surfaces second body, thereby bringing-the coiled body 

